1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope which can be cleaned by being washed with water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an endoscope, once being used for treatment, has been washed and sterilized by a washing/sterilizing device and rinsed with water, etc. The washed endoscope, upon being thoroughly dried, is stored in a special storage site for endoscopes.
Since, at that time, pools of water are left locally on the surface of the endoscope due to the complicated surface configuration of the endoscope, it takes a relatively long time to fully dry the whole endoscope after being washed.
The endoscope, if being thoroughly not dried after being washed with water, involves an increase in various germs in pools of water on the outer surface of the endoscope. Therefore, there is a risk that the outer surface of the endoscope will be re-contaminated with various germs.
In order to prevent this problem, a very time-consuming operation is required to positively dry the endoscope surface in a longer period of time. There is, therefore, a growing demand that the endoscope be dried efficiently.